Slideway for wheel carriages of gear-grinding machines



'A. STEPHAN Aug. 1, 1939.

SLIDE WAY FOR WHEEL CARRIAGES 0F GEAR-GRINDING IAGHINES Filed Sept. 21,1937 ir tu Patented Aug. 1, 1939 PATENT OFFICE SLIDEWAY FOR WHEELCARRIAGESV F GEAR-GRINDING MACHINES Arthur Stephan, Chemnitz, Germany,assignor to J. E. Reinecker Aktien Germany gesellschaft, Chemnitz,

Application September 21, 1937, Serial No. 164,869

In Germany September 26, 1936 i 2 Claims.

My invention relates to improvements in grinding machines of the typehaving a work table, on which the piece of work is fixed, a carriagecarrying the grinding wheel, a frame supporting 5 said wheel carriageand having a guide track projecting therefrom, on which the wheelcarriage is slidably and onesidely mounted in an overhanging position,and means for reciprocating the work table and wheel carriage relativelyv to each other and in a direction rectangular to the sliding motion ofthe wheel carriage.

The improvements aimed at by this invention will be more fullyunderstood by critically reviewing the state of the art, as known forinstance from United States Patent 1,650,422. In the latter a grindingmachine is shown, the guide track of which slidably supporting the wheelcarriage comprises two spaced track members, an upper and a lower one,presenting up and downwardly projecting flanges which are embraced andinterengaged by corresponding guide flanges inwardly projecting from thewheel carriage.

It is common practice to provide wheel carriages slidably attached toguide tracks of the 25 design indicated with means for re-adjusting atleast one of their guide flanges relatively to the guide track of themachine so as to secure always a close fit at the latter, namely tocompensate for wear at the various guide and slide ways and other facesfrictionally engaging each other; more especially because torquesrapidly changing in theirdirection are impartedto the overhanging wheelcarriage I during the grinding operation. H

Said torques and impacts causing wear and friction in addition to thatcaused by the own weight of the overhanging wheel carriage and entailingeventually play at the interengaging surfaces render means forre-fitting and readjusting the latter indispensable.

This is true, more especially with gear grinding machines since for highgrade workmanship, as for instance high speed precision g-earings, motorgears, aero-engine gears etc. the grinding wheels of gear grindingmachines have to be displaced relative to the workpiece at utmost smallamounts (0.00005 inch) in order to eliminatethe wear of the grindingwheels during operation, respectively for adjusting the grinding wheelsto attain a certain thickness of the teeth of the workpieces etc.Therefore, one of the principal demands for said slide ways of geargrinding machines is the possibility of an easy and exact displacementof said wheel carriages.

It is, however, very difficult to meet these redisplacements so that thestiction often cause disturbances when the operator removes the wheelcarriages from the guideways for cleaning, greasing and-so ,on becauseit is 15 very diflicult to re-adjust: the retaining members with thesamepressure as before, owing to the fact that re-adjustment has to beefiected by hand. The wheel carriages of gear grinding machines can bedisplaced only for very small 20 amounts and, therefore, the differencesof pressure of theretaining'members are of great dis advantage for theaccuracy and sensibility of the displacement, especiallybecause greattemporal periods" are lying between a plurality of j V ](friction ofrest) must be overcome when displacing,

The principal object of this invention is to provide slide ways for saidhorizontally sliding wheel carriages withguideways arranged at the,sidethereof, free from said disadvantages and moreover capable to carrytheweig'ht of the wheel carriagesland to counteract aswell tiltingmoments as couples of forces acting in planes vertically to thelengthwise direction of the guideways.

Another purpose of the inventionris a permanent equal adjustment of thewheel carriages to the guidewaysindependent of the ability of theoperator. Furthermore errors which may arise from'the plurality ofelements willbe reduced as 40 much as possibleby this invention andretaining members need notbeemployed at all. g I

Other advantages and objects willbe in part indicated in the followingdescription and in part rendered apparent therefrom in connection withthe annexed drawing.

Iattain these objects by an arrangement illustrated in the accompanyingdrawing, in which Fig. 1 is a vertical section of the, slide way withthe frame and the wheel carriage,

Fig. 2 is a view of the wheel and the gear seen in direction of thearrow A,

The invention comprises a frame a and a wheel carriage 2 which isarranged in a sliding manner at the side of said frame a in horizontaldi- 55 and the nut 4 co-operating in a well known manher for slidinglydisplacing vthewheel carriage.

According to this invention theframea of the grinding machine isprovided with two spaced guide-track members, an upper and a lower one,

forwardly projecting from said frame; the upper.

track member is formed at its upper face with a recess of V-crosssectional shape open at the top and presenting two guide-ways I, B-hereinafter called a primary and a secondary guide way respectively.

Guideway-l is slightly inclined towards the horizontal plane while. theother guideway 8 is considerablymore inclined towards the same, bothguideways I and 8 carrying the weight of the wheel carriage 2, thelatter is formed at its upper section with a downwardly projecting]flange of corresponding crosssectional shape for engagement with I, saidV-shaped guide ways 1 and 8. The wheel carriage 2 being arranged at theside of the frame a'oauses-besides the pressure in vertical direction'atilting moment about the guideways l and 8 as an axis.

The principal-object of thisinvention, namely, to avoid the use ofanyscrewed retaining member, which always may cause disturbances, isattained by the arrangement of two additional,

substantially vertically disposed guide, ways, .namely a third onedesignated 9 and a fourth one designated l0.

Guideway 9 is formed at the frame a proper above the upper track memberand extends substantially parallelthereto for cooperation with acorresponding guide face, which is provided according to this inventionat an extension upwardly projecting from the upper portion of the wheelcarriage, while guideway lllis arranged at the front face-ofthelowertrack member in substantially verticaldisposition and forcooperation with a corresponding guide face provided at the rear ofthelower end of the wheel car-,

riage.

By virtue of said guide ways 9 and I and their specific dispositionabove and'below theV-shaped recess 1, 8- of the upper-guidetrack-member, the wheel carriage/ 2 can, be easily mounted, anddismounted by simple :putting in and out of the same after havingremoved the feed screw 3 and without unscrewing any retainingmember.

The plane of the guideway 8 is inclined towards the parallel planes ofthe guideways 9 and I0 thus forming the angle m The latteris very smallgenerally not larger than 10 degrees. The object of this arrangement isto create very favorable conditions for counteracting the tiltingforces. In practice even a much larger torque than that produced by theweight of the wheel carriage 2 can be effective in the direction 6without the danger of the wheel carriage 2 jumping out of the guideways1 and 8.

Having thus revealed this invention, I claim as new and desire to securethe following combinations and elements, for equivalents thereof, byLetters Patent of the United States:

1. In a grinding machine having a frame and a grinding wheel carriageslidably supported in onesided overhanging position by said frame, thecombination with two spaced track members, an upper and a lower one,projecting from said frame, the upper track member being formed at thetop with arecess of V-cross-sectional shape presenting two inclinedguide Ways, a primary and a secondary one, of a guide flange ofcorresponding cross sectional shape formed at the rear of the wheelcarriage and downwardly projecting therefrom for engagement with saidprimary and secondary guide ways, a substantially vertically disposedthird guide way 7 formed at the frame proper above said upper trackmember and extending parallel thereto, an extension upwardly projectingfrom the wheel carriage; and presenting a guideface for cooperation withsaid third guide way, a substantially vertically disposed fourth guideWay formed at the front-pf saidlower track member, and another'guideface provided at the lower end of the wheel carriage for cooperationwith said fourth guideway.

2. In a grinding machine having a frame and a grinding wheel carriageslidably supported in onesided overhangingposition by said frame, thecombination with two spaced trackmembers, an upper and a lower one,projecting from said frame, the upper track member being formed at thetop with a recess ofV-cross-sectional shape presenting two inclinedguide ways, a primary and a secondary one, of a guide flange ofcorresponding cross sectional shape formed at the rear of the wheelcarriage-and downwardly projecting therefrom for engagement with saidprimary and secondaryguide ways, a substantially vertically disposedthird guide way formed at the frame proper above said upper track memberand extending parallel thereto, an extension upwardlyprojecting from thewheel carriage and presenting a guide face for cooperation vwith saidthird guide way, alsubstantially vertically disposed fourthguide wayformed at the front of said lower track member, and another-guide faceprovided at the lower end of the wheel carriage for cooperation withsaid fourth guide way, one of the guide ways bordering the said V-shapedrecess, namely that which is opposed to the machine frame-forming anangle of inclination with the vertically disposed third guide way notexceeding 10.

ARTHUR ST-EPHAN.

